Devil's Snare
by Zemia
Summary: PotterxMalfoy x2. Draco bemoans his nearbroken nose given to him by Hermione. Lucius, thoroughly amused, tells his own tale of a fiery mudblood and how it sparked a .. flame between him and James.
1. Prologue

**Devil's Snare**

by: Zemia

Disclaimer: Nobody in the Harry Potter universe belongs to me. I claim no kinship whatsoever and praise Rowling wholeheartedly. May we forever toss my money into their giant pool of cash. The only thing I'm getting out of writing these is sick sadistic pleasure out of making the character's lives even more difficult.

AN: An idea I came up with last night, when a friend groused that there were no Lucius x James stories that interested them. So in the next five minutes, I'd come up with a blurb (which will probably be in chapter 1 or 2, depending on what I can work out) and when asked where it'd come from since they liked it, demanded that I fill it out into a true story. So, this is what I came up with. I hope everyone likes it.

Zemia

**Prologue – **

"She nearly broke my nose." Draco groused, regarding Hermione, leaning back into his chair and waving off his mother's attempts to feed him some more. "Mother, please. I'm fourteen, I can feed myself!"

"Well, if you remain thin and scrawny, don't blame me." Narcissa sniffed, finally putting the food down. "If either of you need me, I'll be attending my other obligations."

"Right, then." Lucius acknowledged his wife, before turning his attention to Draco. "Buck it up, son. Noses can be healed. It's high time you stopped your sniveling and became a man." Ignoring his son's protests, Lucius folded his fingers together, placing the tip of his nose against them for a moment, the cool gray of his eyes growing misty from distant memories. "We DO seem to get the mudbloods' fire boiling, don't we? Which of course heats the blood of their champions." He of course, at least in Draco's instance, meant that little dance his son and the Potter child were busy doing. "Violent sort, mudbloods are, aren't they?"

Draco gave his father an odd look, wondering just what the hell he was talking about. "What are you on about, father?"

"Lily Evans." Lucius answered, with a chuckle.

"Potter's mum?" Draco asked, after wracking his brain trying to remember where he'd heard that name before.

"Aye, son. Right little hellion she was. Popped me in the eye our fourth year." Lucius chuckled at Draco's wide-eyed stare, motioning to his food. "Eat a bit more to please your mother, and I will tell you."

Grumbling, Draco resumed eating, picking off little bites and eating them fast so that he could take time to breathe. Nodding, Lucius sat back in his chair, thinking over how best to begin the tale. "Now then…."

TBC


	2. Chapter 1

**Devil's Snare**

by: Zemia

Disclaimer: Nobody in the Harry Potter universe belongs to me. I claim no kinship whatsoever and praise Rowling wholeheartedly. May we forever toss my money into their giant pool of cash. The only thing I'm getting out of writing these is sick sadistic pleasure out of making the character's lives even more difficult.

**Chapter 1 – Ensnared**

"Lily! Here, don't forget your book for herbology!" a dark-skinned girl called, running over to the redhead and handing it over.

Pausing, Lily Evans waited until the girl had caught up, thanking her for her kindness just as the girl ran by her, apparently late for a class herself. Laughing softly, she shook her head and cut across the courtyard to take a shortcut. Leaning against a tree, a boy with pale-blonde hair and cool gray eyes chuckled, causing her to whirl and face him. _Great, it had to be Malfoy._

Lucius Malfoy stepped away from the tree, dusting off his robe as he did so, coming closer to Lily, who tensed at his approach. Undeterred, he remarked snidely on his way by, "With so much mud tainting the blood, it's a wonder you don't forget more things. I'm surprised you've lasted to year four, and to memorize such complex spells and formulas…"

"I'll have you know I'm one of the top of the class of Gryffindor." Lily snapped at him, feeling the sting of the words more than she would dare admit to. So what if neither of her parents had been wizards. That didn't make her any less of a witch for it. Her spells always worked the first time. "Can you say the same?"

"Actually, I can. I'm at the top of my class as well." Lucius replied amiably, his voice still taunting as he turned to face her, pausing in his steps for the moment.

Lily's mouth twisted into a slight smile. "With, or without, Malfoy donations? I earned mine on pure talent and perseverance."

"I'd watch what I say if I were you." Lucius warned, snagging Lily's arm go glare down at her with eyes gone cold as glaciers. A trait his son would inherit. "Mudbloods aren't well received, and they can tend to be … damaged."

"Well, you're not me. And aren't you glad for that?" Lily growled, pulling herself out of his grasp and storming off to her class. Now she really WAS late and it was all that bloody Malfoy's fault!

Glaring at her back, as if he could kill her just with the intensity of his stare, Lucius finally whirled around with a swish of his cloak, going to find Nott, Crabbe and Goyle.

In the Great Hall during lunch, Lily had told the story of what happened to the rest of her group, which included James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and several of her girlfriends. After finishing her tale, she lifted her pumpkin juice and took a long swallow.

James slammed his hand down on the table, glaring towards the Slytherin table as he shouted, "He said WHAT!?"

Remus dug around in his pocket, coming out with a chocolate bar that had only one piece missing from it. He held it out to her, offering, "Here, have a piece of chocolate, it'll make you feel much better."

"What is it with you and the bloody chocolate, Moony?!" Sirius demanded, exasperated with his friend. He honestly believed that the werewolf had some serious addiction issues with the sweet.

Laughing softly, Lily took a piece of the chocolate, waving off the rest. "Thank you, Remus. It's very nice of you." Then she addressed the other two, as Remus pocketed the rest of his chocolate. "First off, everybody has some sort of addiction. What about your obsession with magazine photos of that gmmphhfah." Her jewel-green eyes flashed warningly at Sirius from above the hand he had across her mouth. When he jerked his hand away with a yelp, causing the others to laugh, she then addressed James. "I don't want you going over there and making more of a fuss then there has to be. So just leave off."

"But he …." James protested, pointing towards the other House table again, where Lucius could now be seen smirking at James' dilemma.  
However, Lily was firm with a shake of her head. "James, I said no. Are you really going to try and get me more upset than I already am?" Her glare made him re-think his plan.

With a soft, defeated smile, he shook his head. "No, Evans. You're right. I won't go make trouble at the Slytherin table." With a sigh, he plopped his chin in his hand, poking at his lunch.

Sirius and Remus exchanged looks with each other, arching an eyebrow. Neither one of them were fooled by their best friend's demeanor. Prongs was most definitely up to something. However, it seemed to mollify Lily, so they left it alone for the moment. Smiling now, she leaned forward and gave his cheek a peck. "Good boy, Potter."

TBC


	3. Chapter 2

**Devil'sSnare**

by:Zemia

Disclaimer: Nobody in the Harry Potter universe belongs to me. I claim no kinship whatsoever and praise Rowling wholeheartedly. May we forever toss my money into their giant pool of cash. The only thing I'm getting out of writing these is sick sadistic pleasure out of making the character's lives even more difficult.

**Chapter 2 – Tangled Webbing**

Knowing that his friends wouldn't approve, the wild-tempered Marauder managed an afternoon where he wasn't hanging around them, contriving to confront Malfoy and get him to back off once and for all. James had snuck a note into Lucius' bag during their shared class together, Transfigurations, indicating they should meet in the field next to the Whomping Willow.

Hopefully, he'd get a lucky shot and knock the Slytherin close enough to striking range of the tree. And, if things were going badly, he'd just blind the other teen and slip into the secret tunnel that had been put there for Moony's benefit. It was nearly a fool-proof plan, the dangerous part being of course that HE would be slammed too close to the Whomping Willow.

When he arrived at the tree, he was surprised to see that Lucius had gotten there first, but then realized that it should've occurred to him that the other boy didn't have friends he needed to dodge before he could reach his destination. He stalked towards the other duelist, muttering, "Dammit. I wanted to be the one to be here first, so I could give him that snarky look he's tossing my way."

"Are you saying your prayers, Potter? Fine idea, gets things over with in a more expedient manner." Lucius taunted, already disrobing and holding his wand out.

"Yes. One for you." James called back, tossing his own robe down and pulling out his own wand. The duel would be over quickly enough that he didn't have to worry about washing stains out later. "En garde."

Lucius' lips twisted into the aristocratic sneer he'd perfected, as he chuckled. "Quite cheek. En garde."

Quick work indeed. Ten minutes later saw quite a turn of events.

James fell to the ground, grunting with the impact as he held a hand to his chest where the Slytherin boy'd gotten him with the full brunt of the spell, though his mouth and chin had caught some of the blast as well. Wincing, he braced himself onto his elbow, holding out his wand just in case Malfoy tried anything while he was incapacitated.

The platinum-blonde slowly made his way over to where James lay, staring down at him impassively before murmuring, "I'd not try that again, if I were you, Potter. My family raised children to disarm and hex as they cut their teeth. It wouldn't surprise me at all if your family didn't wait for your voices to crack first."

James stood, glaring at the blonde for a moment, his eyes blazing with anger. He'd had enough of the bad-mouthing, not only of Lily, but of himself. He was just as pure-blooded as Malfoy, and was getting tired of being looked down upon just because of the choice of his friends. Dusting off his vest, he growled out, "If you weren't such a sanctimonious prick..."

tFor his part, however, it didn't appear that Lucius was even paying attention to James' tirade, his eyes trailing down James' chin, following the dribble of blood. Raising his hand, he stroked at the crimson trail, putting it into his mouth. James stepped back a pace, incredulous as to what his arch enemy was doing, snarling, 'What the fuck are you ..."

His protest was cut short with a softly-muffled cry as Lucius' hand darted out, snagged the back of his head and held him there as he leaned forward. Lickitng at the blood, Lucius swiftly kissed his arch-nemesis, dark and heavy, the air between them heating from combined body temperatures rising from something that neither could, at that moment, deny.

James felt his lips being nudged apart by Lucius' tongue seeking entry, moaning softly at the thrilled tingle that coursed through his body at the demanding touch. His hands reached up, clutching at the gray vest that spanned across a very nicely feeling chest. Then his senses returned and he shoved Malfoy backiwards with a snarl, his chest tight from denial. "Don't ever do that again, Malfoy." Turning, he stalked off towards the Courtyard, pausing only momentarily to snatch up his robes. He didn't bother to look behind him to see that Lucius had begun trailing him into Hogwarts.

James found Remus, Sirius and Lily sitting on their favorite benches around a large tree in the Courtyard, and flopped down beside them, ignoring their horrified looks at his appearance. Sirius was the first to respond, putting his hand on his friend's shoulder. "Blimey, Potter, what happened to you?! You look as if you'd been dragged through the mud by the Willow."

"I very nearly was." James admitted, muttering foully under his breath, ignoring Remus who was smirking into his coffee, but to say, "Shove it, Moony. It's your blasted tree."

"And it's saved us on many an occasion, I'd remind you." Remus remarked airily, chuckling and asking, without reaching for any, "Need some chocolate?"

"Honestly, James, what could've been so bloody important that you were near …" Lily broke off as she spotted Lucius standing not a yard away. "What do you want?!"

Lucius merely smiled placidly as he sketched a mock-nod to her. "You might want to fix up your …. boyfriend's … lip. It appears to have gotten itself damaged in our … endeavors."

"He's NOT my boyfriend! What do you mean 'endeavors'!?" Lily instinctively denied, barking at Lucius before whirling on James and jabbing him in the chest, demanding, "This was about what he said to me, wasn't it?! Do you always have to run to my rescue like some damned glory-hound hero?! I can take care of myself you know!" She was infuriated to know that James had dueled Malfoy, about ready to slug him herself. "I can cast spells and do magic and all that other stuff just as easily as all of you pure-bloods. Just because my parents weren't wizards…."

Sirius then moved away from James, closer to Remus. If James was getting anywhere near more damage, he wasn't about to put himself in the eway. Potter would heal in due time anyway. "Now, Lily, calm down, I'm sure James didn't…"

The redhead didn't even bother looking towards Sirius, muttering, "Oh shut up, Black."

"Are some feathers a bit ruffled? One would think that with blood that common, the skin would be tougher… " Lucius remarked, in regards to her ability to take comments, amused by the tirade. Busy dusting off his sleeve, he didn't see Lily storm over to him until it was too late. All he saw was sunlight sparking off of red-gold hair, and a black flash which faded to white as she slugged him in the eye.

"Evans….." everyone breathed, staring at the fuming female wide-eyed and reconsidering pissing her off in the future.

TBC


	4. Chapter 3

**Devil's Snare**

by: Zemia

Disclaimer: Nobody in the Harry Potter universe belongs to me. I claim no kinship whatsoever and sing Rowling's praises. May they forever toss my money into their giant pool of cash. The only thing I'm getting out of writing these is sick sadistic pleasure out of making the character's lives even more difficult.

**Chapter 3 – That Time of the Month**

The next morning's dawn had the sun beaming into the Tower windows, revealing Potter at the mirror, inspecting the black eye he'd received to go along with his split lip. He turned to call to his two friends, without worries of waking up any other roommates. "Oy, you lazy sods, get your asses out of bed! I'm hungry!" Against tradition of placing five students per room, he, Remus and Sirius were the only three to be placed together in the room.

When they'd asked about it, Dumbledore had merely smiled in his quiet, gentle way, saying that it was so the three of them could stay together, as boys needed their friends about. However, they themselves knew better. It was all set up by Dumbledore so that James and Sirius could keep an eye on Remus and his condition without placing others in harm's way. Twice a month, the Headmaster 'conveniently' posted no watches in the grounds along the pathways in the direction of the Womping Willow.

"We're up… we're up!" Remus immediately called back, though he didn't seem to be too sure. "I think." He slanted his eyes against the unwelcome sunlight. "Ugh."

Sirius sat up as well, holding a hand to his head, mumbling, "Honestly, who spiked the pumpkin juice last night?"

"You did." Remus replied, pulling himself out of bed by help of the banisters and stretching luxuriously before his vision wavered and he groaned again.

Laughing, James tried to put some semblance to his hair, though it still looked like a tussled mess. "Next time, no triple-shots."

Glancing sidelong and merely allowing himself to blink a few times, Sirius' expression cleared as memory returned. "Oh. That's right, I did." Then he pointed at Remus, wagging his finger at his friend. "You wouldn't be saying that if I'd managed to figure out a way to turn the drink chocolate as well."

'Now THAT would be a great jinx…" Remus replied with a dreamy tone as he sighed, already pulling his shirt over his head. "Too bad we only have two more days until the full moon, I have a great plan."

"That time of the month already?" James asked, turning to peer at the calendar, humming softly. "At least you're more regular than a girl. Honestly, why can't they get those period things set to the same exact time each month!?"

"We should get that potion ready for you then." Sirius replied to his friends, pulling his shirt off as well. "Good thing we'd managed to get into the same room starting our Second year."

"It wasn't luck. We were put together on purpose." Remus murmured, already dressed, as he sat next to James, who was dressed as well. Now they just had to wait for Sirius, who was looking over his uniforms, trying to find one that was presentable.

"Say again? Were we? I thought we just had the best luck in the world." Sirius flashed them a smile that did nothing to reassure either of his friends.

Shaking his head, James leaned back, motioning towards the clothes. "Get DRESSED, Black! You know why we're together…"

---Three Septembers previous---

Dumbledore looked over McGonagall's room decisions, before taking his quill and scratching a few out, shifting the names around a bit. Frowning, McGonagall tapped the parchment at the room with only three names on it. "Those three do enough damage on their own, without granting them alone time together during the night as well, Albus!"

"Let it alone, Minerva. They'd sneak to see each other anyway." Dumbledore reasoned, trying to calm her down before her temper started. She could be as angry as a ruffled Harpy, given enough time. "At least this way, they're all in one place to begin with and we'd have less worries."

"But, Albus…"

Knowing that McGonagall didn't know about Remus' werewolf affliction, a fact he'd kept firmly to himself, Dumbledore placed a calming hand on her arm, his voice still quiet and serene. "It's less dangerous to keep them together, than it would be to keep them apart."

Giving her long-time friend a dubious glance, the Gryffindor Head of House signed her name to the parchment next to his, staring unhappily at Tower Room Four with its three names written in Dumbledore's handwriting. _James Potter_. _Sirius Black_. _Remus Lupin_.

---

James hissed as he touched his eye again, on their way down to the Common Room, despite Remus pulling his arm down so he'd stop touching it. "What the hell… honestly, you try and defend a girl's honor and she kicks your ass for it!"

"That's what comes from going for a redhead. Even if she's not technically your girlfriend." Remus replied, calmly, though the look James was giving him daunted him only slightly.

"You know, Evans can handle herself, and when she can't, she's asked for help. YOU just wanted any excuse you could get your hands on to tussle with Malfoy. We all know that, and THAT'S why she slugged you."

"Remind me to investigate a jinx against an unarmed opponent…." James replied, before he rummaged in the pockets of his cloak as he sat down so that they could wait for Peter and Lily, per their habit. "Speaking of jinxes… Look what I'd managed to tweak out…" His search came up with a blank piece of parchment, which immediately got his friends' attention. With a wicked smile, he recited the words they'd previously agreed upon, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

The parchment flickered for a moment, before settling into a map of their room and the common room, with small dots indicating the three of them and their location. On top of the parchment read, 'Marauder's Map, by Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs.'

"Really good. I like how you've managed to get the dots in there too, now. Oh, hey, hang on…" Sirius paused and tapped the paper, expanding it to include the girls' tower as well, drawing it out with care.

With the praise, James' ego grew a bit more, like it needed it. "Thanks. It took me the better part of a week to manage it. It's to scale too, which it will do naturally without us having to think about it."

"I don't want to know." Remus drawled before charming the paper as well. Immediately, only the girls' dorms showed up.

Sirius snatched the parchment from James' hand, staring at it for a moment before glaring at Remus. "What'd you do!?"

"I jinxed it so that only the section that the reader is concentrating on shows up at the moment. Do you realize how much parchment we'd need for the entirety of Hogwarts and its grounds?!"

"Bloody brilliant, Moony."

James filled in a bit more, including the moving staircases and the Great Hall. "Wormtail's been sneaking down into the dungeons lately, he'll help us fill in that area."

"Shouldn't we wonder WHY he's been going down there a lot, lately?"

"What's it really matter, long's we get the map done? Honestly, who's going to worry about a rat in the dungeons. It's probably full of them anyway. He fits right in."

"Well, I still worry."

"Eat some of your chocolate. You're too tense." Sirius glanced in time to see footsteps coming down from the girls' stairwell, as well as listening to Peter shuffling down the boys'. Though Peter knew about the map, and was actively helping with it, Lily didn't. It was better kept that way, too. "Hst. James, the map."

Quickly murmuring, "Mischief managed", James shoved the parchment into the pocket hidden in his robes. He'd sewn it there himself, jinxing it so that even the most thorough search wouldn't turn it up.

The three stood at the entrance of Peter and Lily, where they smiled brightly and declared, "Morning Pettigrew, Morning Evans." It caused the female Gryffindor to cast them suspicious glances, and a dark look towards James in particular, a gleam of satisfaction in her eyes at seeing his own. James ignored it and clapped Peter on the shoulder, all but shoving him towards the portrait. "Bout time you two showed up, we're starving!"

Without another word, they all filed down to get breakfast.

TBC


End file.
